Tatar-Bashkir Report: June 28, 2000

Comments On Bin Laden StatementOn 28 June, responses from Tatarstan's religious leaders and officials to the recent statement by the internationally terrorist, Saudi Arabian billionaire Osama Bin Laden, who called for a jihad (holy war) against
Christians and Jews. The Muslim Spiritual Board (MSB) of Tatarstan issued a public
statement saying that "multiethnic and poly-confessional society was
historically formed in our country and there's unity of nationalities
representing two major and other confessions. It took these religions a long time to establish a peaceful system of values and balance of power." The MSB
condemned Bin Laden's call for all international extremists "aiming at the destruction
of understanding between people and igniting senseless bloody
conflicts."

Orthodox Christian Archimandrite Vsevolod, vicar of the Raifa Monastery,
told the daily "Vremya i Dengi" on 28 June that he considered Bin Laden's
statement to be "sad, because after such statements the amount of evil in this
world increases." Concerning relations between Christians and
Muslims in Tatarstan, Vsevolod said that "we live in the same land,
practically every Orthodox Christian family has Muslim relatives or
friends. All problems connected with nationalism are solved fast and
wisely."

The deputy chairman of Tatarstan's Security Committee (KGB), Ilgiz Minnulin, told
the press the same day that "statements of this kind are made on a regular
basis. This informational pressure is aimed at creating uncertainty among
people. Every such statement proves the necessity of uniting different
countries for the joint struggle against international terrorism."

Bashkortostan To Adjust Its Laws, Constitution To Suit MoscowThe speaker of Bashkortostan's parliament, Konstantin Tolkachev,
said on 27 June that a "bilateral commission on adjusting Bashkortostan's
Constitution to federal laws will be created in the nearest future." Tolkachev
said that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Bashkortostan's president,
Murtaza Rakhimov, reached this decision during a meeting at the Sabantuy
celebration in Kazan on 24 June. Tolkachev said that "it wouldn't be really correct to speak about bringing Bashkortostan's
laws in conformity with federal legislation." Tolkachev noted that in
1993, when there was a poll on the Russian Constitution in Bashkortostan, over
60 percent of voters did not support it. He emphasized that it was "necessary to
understand the mentality of Bashkirs, who will not refuse their own conquests
obtained in the times of Ivan the Terrible."